“Don’t visit Paris in summer”: Just how bad is the city’s stinky problem?
Picture it: You’ve dreamed about Midnight in Paris-style strolling through lamplit cobbled streets with a stranger-turned-lover, imagined being chased through the Eiffel Tower by James Bond, and taking that photo your friend’s cousin did on her backpacking trip with the Louvre’s pyramid make your backdrop, itching to run through its storied halls like Bernardo Bertolucci’s dreamy trio.
Serge Gainsbourg’s dulcet tones oozing staticky from the taxi speakers as you pass the Arc de Triomphe before failing to spot Quasimodo at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Then you pull up at your hotel, slowly opening the door expecting to be hit by the smell of baked croissants or perfume, only to be slammed by the pungent stench of cat urine.
This surprisingly smelly problem has been highlighted across social media by visitors to one of Europe’s and popular culture’s great cities. What does it smell like? Well, you might need to hold your nose for this, but social media users claim it often smells of cat wee, human wee and sometimes just rubbish.
These claims of a distinctly Parisian stench that has nothing to do with Givenchy have led to suggestions that the French capital shouldn’t be a pitstop in the summer months, but is this a real problem, and do you need to plan your trip around it? The heart note of the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Yes, Paris can smell; it doesn’t actually smell all summer long. The reality that people seem to forget when trying to wrap their heads around the city’s storied past is that Paris is an elder statesman. It was founded in the third century, originally named Lutetia, survived the Roman conquest and continued to grow into the glamorous image we are more familiar with.
Much like other cities with ancient origins, such as London or Athens, there has been a continuation of building upon building, with some areas still relying on older infrastructures. The city’s sewer network, one of the more underappreciated cast of Les Misérables, was renovated and improved upon in the mid-1800s and has only had minor work done since then. This is not a city that has been built entirely over the last century; the roads are small and winding, and every bit of space has been built upon and lived in for generations.
Some of the criticisms are fair. The smell of rubbish, while it isn’t exclusive to Paris, is something that can be a problem, especially during the hotter months. This is part of living in a huge modern city, and the local government perhaps needs to do a better job of ensuring that the streets are clean, but it’s not always that simple.
Upgrading and cleaning is expensive, and the powers that be spent over €1.4billion to clean up the River Seine for the Olympic Games in 2024, which allowed the river to host the Opening Ceremony and made it swimmable for the first time in a century. It was only earlier this summer that the Seine was opened to the public to swim in.
Then there’s the urine claims. It seems unlikely that there’s a rogue band of cats pissing on every street corner but perhaps the city needs to consider more publicly accessible toilets, especially in some more touristy areas of the cities. There’s also the question of whether enough is being done to help the homeless population, who are always the silent but tragic markers of a city’s poor welfare governance. Pollution and litter combine to impact the air quality and the stench, but, in truth, it’s no worse than anywhere else in Europe, or even wherever you are travelling from.
Let’s not forget, though, that the streets are cleaned every morning, with Saturday night’s escapades sprayed off the pavements before the Sunday sun rises. So, for the majority of visitors, this smell shouldn’t be a constant issue. Ultimately, when it comes to these urine claims, it might be the tourists taking the proverbial piss. If you live in any of Europe’s major cities, then you’ll be familiar with the sights and sounds of living in a modern city that’s been layered on for thousands of years.
Hysteria over the smell of Paris is overblown. It’s a functioning, busy city and every inch of its geography sustains life old and new, the streets are bustling with noise and people. Yes, you can occasionally stumble across bad smells, but that’s the case in every city. You’re just as likely to smell freshly-baked bread or hot coffee as you stroll down the Champs-Élysées as you are the discards of humanity’s survival. You don’t need to avoid Paris in summer, but if you’re worried about nasal assault, then avoid walking under bridges or in car park stairwells, or just brave it to your next destination.
